Help Needed

[Harshad Barve]

Dear all

I am a mammal photographer for whome 400mm is one fine focal length, Hade done this season with 7D & 300/f4 but this was more than a adjustment rather than a comfort. Being Nikon guy , will be shifting back to Nikon ,

I have two combination in mind ,
D300s+ 70-200/f2.8
D700 + 200-400/f4 or D700 + 300/f2.8

I have used 200-400 for a trial and found one comfortble lens ,does this lens takes 1.4x comfortbly , many PGers are not happy with this glass

My question is, is this a right combination , Please do suggest other combinations which you feel are better
All comments and suggations are most welcome
Harshad

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Harshad Did use the 200-400 for a year and an half, its a fine lens and will take the converter ... best results will not be at infinity.

The 300-2.8 is sharper and faster but I think the versatility of being able to zoom takes over, you don't have much chance to move around !! .. would also have a 70-200 VR !!!

[arash_hazeghi]

Harshad I think best choice for mammals is 700 and 200-400.

Good luck :)

[Myer Bornstein]

I vote for the new 200-400 with the 1.4 tele I have the old model and use it with the tele on a D300s without difficulty

[Desmond Chan]

I have used 200-400 for a trial and found one comfortble lens ,does this lens takes 1.4x comfortbly

I use 1.4TC with 200-400 without hesitation but would use 1.7 TC when there is no other choice. In either case, for better result you should stop down.

My question is, is this a right combination , Please do suggest other combinations which you feel are better

With the new TC III 2x, you could try it with 300f2.8. It seems to work fine with good results from what I've heard. Then there's 500mm prime ;)

[Jason G. Harrison]

Harshad I think you can't go wrong with the 200-400VR. I love mine, its my second most used lens behind my 600VR. I use it on a D300 and a D300s. It takes the 1.4 like magic and is so razor sharp with it even wide open. I am mostly a bird photographer...but am branching out and doing more and more mammals. For that very reason...I have kept the 200-400. Its zoom is SO versatile...and that trumps the 2.8 glass if you ask me.

Lots of the other "Nikon" shooters out there who shoot alot in Africa, etc...mostly swear that the 200-400 is a must have lens for shooting larger game.

One thing I love about it as the close focusing distance and its easy to handhold. The only thing I can say negatively about the lens is that I do not use it much due to my subjects.;)

[Mike Nardini]

I have the 200-400 that I use with my D300 and really like the combination even with the 1.4 tele. I also have a 500/4 but there are times (e.g. Gatorland) when the I find the zoom's versatility more of a benefit than the additional reach.

[Fabs Forns]

Close focusing distance of 200-400 is priceless. I used that and the 702-00/2.8 for YNP when I had Nikon. Both take the 1.4X nicely. 1.7X works reasonable well for 70-200, do not like for 200-400, at all. In fact, Nikon does not recommend it. And you can hand hold both. I would go for D700 unless you like noise.
Good luck on your change.

[Harshad Barve]

Thanks everyone ,
I will go for
D300s+ 70-200/f2.8
D700 + 200-400/f4

[anilnediyara]

Dear Harshad,
I would request you to look into two aspects before you take the plunge.

1. D700 buffer gets full in between the action and you will end up with a 2-3 fps camera.
2. AF of D700 is not in the same league as D3, please dont belive any one who says they are almost same.
3. PLease try out a D3s to get the real feel and to know that the extra money paid is well worth it.
4. D300s hi ISO limitation rules it out for most of our dense jungle use.

I am using D3 and D300 for the last 2yrs and had the opertunity to shoot along with a friend using D700/200-400vr and D300/500f4vr. He was always crying why his frame rate drops when D3 and other Canon 1Dmk3 zooms past. He changed to D3s immediatly on reaching home :)

Regards
Anil

[Desmond Chan]

Hi Anil,

Some clarification please if you don't mind:

1. D700 buffer gets full in between the action and you will end up with a 2-3 fps camera.

D3 and D3s don't get buffer full? Sorry I don't have either the D3 or D3s so perhaps you could tell me something about them. If I understand what you said correctly, you seem to suggest that if I press on the shutter button and don't let go, the D3 or D3s will just keep shooting at the fastest fps all the way until its battery is fully discharged?

What you said about D700 seems to imply that the D700's frame rate will slow down when its buffer is fully filled up. Makes sense though I never test it and I never have to press the shutter button to shoot for a long time amd so never see the fps drops down to 2 or 3. Anyhow, you did not say if the same would happen to D3 or D3s. I just wonder if the buffer of either of them will never get filled up. Because if it will, then the frame rate of the D3 or D3s should slow down, too, at some point if that's the reason that affects the frame rate, right? And if you're trying to say that D3 or D3s will never have its buffer full, then "if I press on the shutter button and don't let go, the D3 or D3s will just keep shooting at the fastest fps all the way until its battery is fully discharged" should be true, right?

Am I missing something?



Desmond

[Mark Hardymon]

I will second what everyone has already said about the D700 and 200-400 being an excellent choice. I will add though that I have never had any problems with the buffer filling on the D700. I use it almost always with the MB-D10 grip which increases the frame rate to 8fps. In all honesty I don't normally rip off 20 or 30 frames at a time, if I wanted that I'd use a video camera. But I can say in all my experience I have never had the frame rate drop significantly unless the shutter speed was unusually long.

[Harshad Barve]

1. D700 buffer gets full in between the action and you will end up with a 2-3 fps camera.

I have used D700 and D300 of Nikon extensively ( combined actuations 75k) , I never had this problem , Always used in CH ( contineous high ) mode :)
Thanks for suggations

[anilnediyara]

Hi

Desmond you have figured it right, once the buffer is full the frame rate drops for all three cameras in question. D3s with a larger frame buffer helps by capable of buffering double the number of frames when compared to D3.

It is not the capability of ripping 20 -30 frames in a strech that helps you it is the ability to start shooting an action scene bit early and stopping later than that possible with a smaller buffer that helps you in capturing more action.

Who knows, in future convergence of Still and Movie may help you in capuring the required frame, all one has to do is point the contraption towards the scene at the right time and press the trigger :)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Hi Anil,

Some clarification please if you don't mind:



D3 and D3s don't get buffer full? Sorry I don't have either the D3 or D3s so perhaps you could tell me something about them. If I understand what you said correctly, you seem to suggest that if I press on the shutter button and don't let go, the D3 or D3s will just keep shooting at the fastest fps all the way until its battery is fully discharged?

What you said about D700 seems to imply that the D700's frame rate will slow down when its buffer is fully filled up. Makes sense though I never test it and I never have to press the shutter button to shoot for a long time amd so never see the fps drops down to 2 or 3. Anyhow, you did not say if the same would happen to D3 or D3s. I just wonder if the buffer of either of them will never get filled up. Because if it will, then the frame rate of the D3 or D3s should slow down, too, at some point if that's the reason that affects the frame rate, right? And if you're trying to say that D3 or D3s will never have its buffer full, then "if I press on the shutter button and don't let go, the D3 or D3s will just keep shooting at the fastest fps all the way until its battery is fully discharged" should be true, right?

Am I missing something?



Desmond

Lets not dismiss someone's observation outright.

I think what Anil is saying is once the buffer gets filled, it takes time to clear up, where as for D3 and Canon 1DS3 it is faster.

One often doesn't get scenes where a continuous burst is required. Think of two tigers/lions etc interacting. Or say yawning or say a fight between lions and group of hyena. One can fire off a sequence and then find that the buffer is filled and clears slowly. I have no idea about Nikon cameras and how fast the buffer clears up, however I think Anil was trying to say this.

Nikon has announced a new version of 200-400 some time back. I guess that might be better than the old 200-400.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[William Malacarne]

Also don't forget the speed of the card can effect how fast the buffer clears.

Bill

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I agree about the speed of card. I find the UDMA cards good.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Desmond Chan]

... once the buffer is full the frame rate drops for all three cameras in question. D3s with a larger frame buffer helps by capable of buffering double the number of frames when compared to D3...

That's what I thought. Thanks for the clarification, Anil !